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Lakewood Residents,

Well, winter made its inevitable–and early–arrival over the Thanksgiving weekend. I want to thank all of you that got out and shoveled your sidewalks, as well as our Public Works team for working to plow the roads as the snow came down.

In November, we introduced a number of measures to combat hunger and food shortages that affected SNAP beneficiaries in Lakewood. While the government shutdown ended November 12, the City and the Human Services team are still working to help provide food and goods to our neighbors enduring the resulting hardship. Read below for more details.

Also in this issue of the E-Newsletter, you can read about the amazing annual Light Up Lakewood holiday event, information on rock salt distribution for residents, an update on fall leaf collection, a new HAWK signal and refresher on how to use these crossings, and the LPD's Cram The Cruiser event that takes place December 15.

Finally, as another great year in our city comes to a close, I want to thank you subscribing to our newsletter and for making Lakewood such a great place to live. I hope you have a wonderful holiday season, and I am looking forward to all that 2026 will have in store!

Mayor Meghan F. George

Sat., December 6

Light Up Lakewood

4:00 PM - 8:00 PM

Detroit Ave. between Belle and Arthur

Sun., December 14

Car Seat Safety Check

9:00 AM - 12:00 PM

Fire Station 1

Mon., December 15

City Council Meeting

7:30 PM

City Hall Auditorium

Mon., December 15

LPD "Cram The Cruiser" Donation Drive

3:00 PM - 6:00 PM

Giant Eagle 
(14100 Detroit Ave.)

Thu., December 25

Christmas Day

City Offices Closed

Thu., January 1

New Year's Day

City Offices Closed

Click below to view the City of Lakewood's full events calendar.

Lakewood Launches SNAP Relief Program In Response to Government Shutdown

In the wake of the federal government shutdown, participants in SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) experienced delays and reductions in benefits to provide food for their households. In response, Lakewood's government, led by the Human Services Department, launched several SNAP relief programs aimed to assist beneficiaries in providing food and household items.

Grocery Gift Card Distribution

The Human Services team has distributed $50 grocery gift cards to known SNAP participants and made even more cards available to qualifying residents on a first-come, first-served basis. These gift cards, made possible thanks to help from Lakewood Community Services Center, have helped more than 1,000 households in Lakewood.

Community Fundraising

The City has teamed up with The Lakewood Foundation to receive monetary donations from our generous residents to go directly to SNAP beneficiaries for additional assistance. If you are interested in contributing, visit The Lakewood Foundation's Donate page on their website.

Citywide Food and Goods Drive

At City Hall, Cove Community Center, the Lakewood Police Station, and at each of our three fire stations, you can find donation boxes that are collecting tangible goods to be distributed to SNAP participants. Requested items include:

• Cereals
• Canned soups
• “Meal in a can” options (chili, ravioli, beef stew)
• Nutritional drinks like Ensure/Boost
• Canned or dried fruits
• Snack items
• Foil-pack proteins such as tuna or chicken
• Non-food, personal care items and toiletries (soap, shampoo, deodorant, toothbrushes and toothpaste, etc.)

Cove Community Center also has a donation box on-site for new winter coats, hats, and gloves.

Monthly Community Meal

Beginning December 3, Cove Community Center is hosting a free community meal on the first Wednesday of each month. Anyone is welcome to attend.

Doors open at 5:00 PM, and the meal is served at 5:30 PM.

Light Up Lakewood: December 6, 4-8 PM

Thanksgiving is now behind us, so you know what that means: it's time to Light Up Lakewood!

Come down to Detroit Ave. between Arthur and Marlowe on Saturday, December 6 from 4 to 8 PM for the area's best winter celebration. The parade kicks off at 5 PM, and visitors of all ages can enjoy music, activities, food and drinks, and much more.

Rock Salt Distribution Returns for Winter 2025-2026

With the winter weather making its first appearance over Thanksgiving weekend, the Public Works team is filling the salt bins that allow residents to pick up rock salt for keeping their sidewalks and driveways clear.

The boxes are located at Kauffman, Madison, Cove, and Lakewood Park as well as the Lakewood Dog Park. Residents may take home up to 5 gallons of salt for personal use. Contractors and businesses are prohibited from using this salt, and the box locations are under video surveillance to prevent abuse.

Interested residents must bring their own shovel (a metal gardening shovel is recommended) and bucket, and must load the salt themselves.


Please remember to secure the cover after use to help prevent the salt from hardening due to rain/moisture!

Mayor's Corner: Key Achievements in 2025

Dear Residents of Lakewood,

The annual budgeting process is an opportunity to reflect on recent accomplishments while setting a path for the future of the City of Lakewood. Our proposed budget is once again a reflection of Lakewood’s vision, values, and priorities, positioning the City to achieve our goals while maintaining balanced financials and our commitment to the highest level of fiscal stewardship for our taxpayers. The City of Lakewood continues to proactively seek outside funds to augment and leverage our local dollars.

In 2025, the City of Lakewood achieved key milestones including:

• Breaking ground on the downtown development that will catalyze our city’s core for generations;
• Opening a new Animal Shelter that will improve service and efficiency while creating space for our water treatment facilities in the Rocky River Valley;
• Major upgrades and enhancement to the Lakewood Park Skate Park and opening a community connector to improve access to Madison Park;
• Completion of one of the City’s largest infrastructure initiatives ever in the sewer interceptor project;
• Continued improvements at Winterhurst Ice Arena.

Our 2026 budget continues this approach to achieve strategic capital investments while maintaining our tradition of high standards in city services and operations. Key investments found in this year’s proposed budget include:

• Pedestrian & Bike Safety: the Lake Avenue / Clifton Connector Project will begin a multi-million-dollar construction process. When complete, this project will introduce fully dedicated bike / pedestrian lanes to dramatically increase safety and create opportunities for users to enjoy dramatic vistas of the Rocky River and Lake Erie. The City will also invest in traffic signal improvements and traffic calming measures across Lakewood to enhance traffic and pedestrian safety. The Bunts Road shared-use path, traffic calming, and street upgrade project will also begin construction in earnest in 2026.
• Public Safety: The City will perform important roof work at Fire Station 3; we will maintain and improve our emergency response capacity by investing in our EMS with a new medical squad, refurbishing one of our fire trucks, and new police cruisers; and we will invest in key supportive technology – which includes upgrades to our police data systems and continued investments in safety cameras.
• Environmental & Sustainability: The City will continue to invest in our water treatment capacity with the addition of new storage tanks that prevent runoff into our watershed; we will invest heavily in our lead service line replacement program; and we will continue to implement our citywide tree plan with hundreds of tree plantings across Lakewood.
• Parks & Public Recreation: at Madison Park, the coming year will see $300,000 for futsal field investments at Madison Park and $275,000 for preliminary design and public engagement work for the Becks Pool revitalization project; and at Winterhurst Ice Rink, the city will continue the locker room renovation and expansion project and add security cameras to the facility, continuing the multi-year process of major facility improvements.

Once again, we have prepared a structurally balanced operating budget while also providing for necessary and highly beneficial capital projects. Though our budget remains tight and financial challenges will always present themselves, our department directors and the Mayor’s office continue to work as a team to meet the priorities, vision, and values of our Lakewood community. We balance all this with maintaining and improving our financial reserves and keeping an excellent bond rating. I look forward to once again working in partnership with City Council to continue providing the superior public services and public amenities that our residents deserve and expect.

Sincerely,

Meghan F. George

Mayor and Safety Director

Fall Leaf Collection Updates

Leaf collection is currently on hold due to the snowy weather, but is planned to continue through mid-December, as long as the weather permits.

As of December 1, Streets and Forestry crews have made three complete circuits through every Lakewood street.

You can view the latest updates on the Lakewood Leaf Collection Map.

Leaf Collection Reminders

• Please place your leaves no farther than 6 feet from the curb so the collection machines can reach.
• Leaf piles should be placed on the tree lawn and not in the street. Raking leaves into the street can make the road surface slippery and cause storm sewer backups and flooding.
• Crews will attempt to work around parked cars, but we recommend keeping cars off the street during daytime collection hours (8 AM to 4 PM) if possible. Follow any and all No Parking signs and restrictions that may be posted.
• Other yard waste items like plants, sticks, or branches are not to be placed into leaf collection piles.

HAWK Signal Installed at Arthur and Madison

At the beginning of November, a new Pedestrian Hybrid Beacon (HAWK Signal) was installed near the intersection of Madison Avenue and Arthur Avenue. These signals provide a crossing point for high-pedestrian areas where a standard intersection signal is not present.

This is the third HAWK signal to be installed in Lakewood.

If you need a refresher of how to proceed at these crossings, click below to watch our instructional video.

Lakewood Police Department Announces "Cram The Cruiser" Food & Goods Drive

Lakewood's Neighborhood Police Officers are hosting a "Cram The Cruiser" donation drive event where each of Lakewood's four wards will compete for bragging rights to see who can donate the most items!

The event takes place on Monday, December 15, 2025 from 3 PM to 6 PM at Giant Eagle located at 14100 Detroit Ave.

Donations will be distributed exclusively to Lakewood families in need this holiday season in collaboration with the Lakewood Community Services Center.

What To Donate:

• Canned and non-perishable food items (no glass)
• Personal care and hygiene products (soap, shampoo, deodorant, toothpaste, toothbrushes, toilet tissue, etc.)

City of Lakewood | lakewoodoh.gov